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St. Cloud area sending two teams, plus three individual players, to state tennis tournament

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St. Cloud area sending two teams, plus three individual players, to state tennis tournament

SAINT CLOUD – Two local teams advanced to compete at the boys state high school tennis tournament next week. 

Becker is also sending senior Zach Bengtson to compete in the individual singles tournament and the Foley doubles team of senior Gavin Gross and junior Jack Erkens also advanced.

On May 17, Becker (19-7) won the Section 5/8-2A team tournament for the second year in a row after taking fifth at state last year. Foley (16-7) also advanced to state with a Section 6-1A win May 28 at Princeton High School. Gross and Erkens won their section championship; Bengston took second to qualify for states a third time.

Foley will compete against No. 2 Breck (10-7) at noon Wednesday at InnerCity Tennis. Becker will play No. 3 Blake (22-2) at 2 p.m. at the University of Minnesota’s Baseline Tennis Complex. The individual and doubles tournaments are Thursday. 

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Section 5/8-2A 

Becker was seeded second in the 12-team tournament. The Bulldogs beat Sartell (12-9) in the championship match thanks to three singles wins on straight sets and a first-slot doubles win from sophomore Sawyer Brown and junior Garett Lane.

Becker previously beat Buffalo (11-12) and Monticello (18-3), relying on undefeated match play from the singles trio of Bengtson, sophomore Troy Nuest and sophomore Landon Peterson. 

In addition to Becker and Sartell, the St. Cloud Crush (13-10) and Sauk Rapids-Rice Storm (3-14) competed in the team tournament. The Crush won their first-round match against Moorhead 6-1 but fell to Alexandria (23-5) in their second, 6-1. Charlie Streit was the lone winner at No. 3 singles. Sauk Rapids lost its first-round matchup to Bemidji (13-5), 6-1. Doubles pair junior JD Fuentes and sophomore Zack Euteneuer won their match. 

The individual and doubles tournament was May 23 at St. Cloud Tech.  

There, Bengtson defeated Sartell junior Jack Michaud, 6-1, 7-6 (3). Both players had been beaten in in previous matches by the individual champion from Monticello, senior Ryan Schyma. Bengtson was bumped in the semifinals, 0-6, 6-2, 6-1, then won the third place game.

Michaud had gone to three sets against his semifinal opponent from St. Michael-Albertville, then again in the championship against Schyma, losing there 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.  

Schyma beat St. Cloud sophomore Charles Simon in the quarterfinals, 6-2, 6-4. Simon’s junior teammate, Charlie Streit, also lost his quarterfinal match vs. Bengtson. 

Section 6-1A

The top-ranked team, Foley received a bye in the first round. The Falcons swept Totino Grace (6-11), then won the championship over Pine City (22-3), 5-2. Aaron VanderWeyst and Gavin Gross won their matches in straight sets, Gross not losing a game. The doubles teams of Landon Harris and Jack Erkens and Cole Rueckert and Mason Weikert won too.  

St. Cloud Cathedral/St. John’s Prep (3-7) lost its first-round match to Pine City 7-0. 

Freshmen from North Branch and Mora made it out of the individual tournament, before Gross and Erkens beat Aaron Rootkie and Greyson Johnson of Pine City, 6-4, 7-5 for their doubles title. 

Contact reporter Reid Glenn at rglenn@gannett.com. 

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